Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people were convicted of a violence against the person offence in England and Wales in 2024 and, of these people, how many received an immediate custodial sentence of (i) less than one month, (ii) one month to less than three months, (iii) three months to less than six months, (iv) six months to less than twelve months, (v) one year to less than two years and (vi) two years or more, with each figure broken down by the number of previous occasions on which the offender had been convicted of a violence against the person offence.

The information requested is provided in the attached tables. These tables include data covering the period 2024 on:

- The number of offenders who were convicted of a specified offence type (theft or violence against the person) and did receive an immediate custodial sentence, by the number of previous convictions for that specified offence.

- The number of offenders convicted of specific offences who did not receive an immediate custodial sentence, who were also convicted of another of the listed offence types without receiving an immediate custodial sentence.

This data is not regularly published or held in an easily accessible format. The information supplied has been sourced from a bespoke retrieval from the Ministry of Justice extract of the Police National Computer.

Sentencing in individual cases is a matter for the independent judiciary. When deciding what sentence to impose, courts must consider the circumstances of the case, including the culpability of the offender, the harm they caused or intended to cause, and any aggravating and mitigating factors, in line with any relevant sentencing guidelines, developed by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales.

Previous convictions are a statutory aggravating factor, with Sentencing Guidelines being clear that sentencers must consider the nature and relevance of previous convictions, and the time elapsed since the previous convictions.